I volunteer at several senior centers across Cape Cod. What surprises me most about these well intentioned seniors who consult me is that many believe that getting old just means updating their will and that's about it. In fact, growing older, from a legal standpoint, can and often is much more complex than the drafting of a simple will. Legal documents for seniors can touch many areas of concern. Here is a short list:

1. Minimizing estate or death taxes.

2. Protection of assets in the event of long term nursing home care.

3. Obtaining benefits from Medicaid or Medicare.

4. Setting up arrangements for special needs children.

5. Having assets pass upon death outside of the probate court system. 6. Avoiding court supervised guardianship for an incapacitated senior through advance directives such as Durable Powers of Attorney.

7. Establishing legal documents that set forth substitute medical decision making and right-to-die with dignity concerns.

8. Protection from creditors and lawsuits.

9. Release of medical records to family members under the new confidentiality laws.

Each of the above topics could warrant a separate article in and of itself. However, let's talk basics and keep it simple. And for the purpose of keeping it real simple, let's further assume that your total estate does not exceed $950,000. Estates larger than that might consider more complex estate tax planning, at least for Massachusetts residents.

Update your wills. Make sure your wills are updated regularly. This is particularly true if someone named in your will passes away or if the nature of your estate changes in some significant way. Generally, a child changing her name through marriage or valid out of state wills are fine. If you have a trust of whatever nature, that should be looked at more regularly, since trusts are usually prepared to address specific estate planning goals and often need to be updated due to ever changing tax, public benefits or other laws.

Durable Powers of Attorney. This is huge. Many spouses mistakenly believe that, since an asset is "joint" the healthy spouse can simply sign his other spouse's name on any legal document if a spouse becomes incapacitated. While this may be true for your bank accounts, that's about it. If your spouse is incapacitated, you cannot sell or mortgage or transfer your home or other investments. You cannot change beneficiaries or ownership of life insurance or annuitites or file income taxes. Without a properly prepared durable power of attorney, these financial acts can only be carried out through costly and lengthy probate court guardianship or conservatorship proceedings.

Health Care Proxies. These are advance medical directives that nominates a trusted person to make medical decisions on your behalf if you can no longer act on your own. Often these decisions involve wishes not to have medical heroics. This year we witnessed a media deluge of what can happen to a family if individual wishes of this nature are not made express through legal documents. Enough said.

Declare a Homestead. Seniors can avail themselves to a half million dollars of creditor protection against their principal residence by filing a homestead at the registry of deeds. While of course it is best to have an attorney handle this, I know many seniors who have brought their deed to the registry and nicely asked a clerk for help filling out and signing the form, paying thirty five bucks to do so. Before you ask, no, a homestead does not protect against nursing homes.

Finally, you really shouldn't do this stuff yourself. I know what you're thinking. I'm a lawyer just trying to drum up business. But seriously, the biggest legal messes I have ever cleaned up are from folks who get pre printed legal documents or downloaded legal documents on a computer or copied their Aunt Betty's durable powers of attorney that she got from a lawyer who died or stopped practicing in 1962.

While I'll be the first to admit that much of these documents are boiler plate, there are very specific elements applicable to seniors contained in these documents when properly drafted and tailored to the seniors' unique circumstances. Poorly drafted legal documents can be profoundly consequential to the senior from the point of view of tax, nursing home protection and ease of estate administration.

Next month I'll go beyond the basics and discuss more goal specific planning. Attorney Michael L. Lavender specializes in Elder Law and is in practice in Barnstable Village.